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Monday, 23 March 2015

Saudi Arabia is known for
its adamant enforcement of the death penalty and has to date executed numerous
criminals who were convicted on charges ranging from drug smuggling, sexual
assault to murder. So it comes as a delightful surprise when we hear that a
Saudi prince has helped stop a man from being executed, even though it is not
at all a common practice for royalty to interfere in such matters, as their
laws are implemented vigorously. The young Saudi prince alWaleed bin talal has
reportedly paid a whopping $1.33 million or SAR 5 million in blood money to
help free a Saudi citizen who has been jailed and was in death row for the
murder.

The prince is a business
magnate having interests in many companies, having a personal net worth of
$20-30 billion and has previously donated to noble and charitable causes
numerous times and continues his philanthropic work through various
organizations that he helps. Prince AlWaleed has also donated generously to the
Palestinian cause and it is because of this support that his donation of $10
million to newyork city mayor Rudy Giuliani, after the September 11 attacks was
returned to the prince. The prince is very vocal about the Gaza issue but that
has not stopped him from helping many US based charities and setting up
scholarships in the United States.

The man that the prince
has helped get off death row is Muhammad Al Aqili, who is a Saudi citizen and
has been convicted since 2012 when he took the life of another man during an
altercation in January of the same year. Although he had been sentenced to
death, the victims family had agreed to forgive al Aqili if he pays SAR23
million or around $7million in blood money by may 4 2015. His family had
managed to gather SAR18 million and the prince completed the amount, which
reportedly made al Aqilis mother ecstatic. Al Aqilis mother will finally see
her son as a free man after being jailed since being convicted, and until the
money had been gathered for his release. Prince AlWaleed has issued a statement
from his twitter account that he does not usually involve himself in such legal
matters but had to save the life of al Aqili. The victim’s family has asked
alAqili not to enter Riyadh after his release as a gesture of goodwill to them.

This story is a rarity in
a world, where acts of generosity such as this hardly come along. Although
taking a life is a horrid act but saving a life is a great thing to do. I
personally believe the death penalty should be reserved for the most ghastly cases,
monetary compensation called blood money is allowed in Islam and so allows us
to save a life instead of losing both the lives of the victim and the criminal.
This law helps if the victim was the primary bread earner in the family and the
family of the victim could use the money more than the life of the criminal.